


The Scariest Sound In The World

by Leni



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 14:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2471147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle discovers her bravery, step by step.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Scariest Sound In The World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tigriswolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/gifts).



> Written for TigrisWolf at [Comment Fic](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/549892.html?thread=77708804#t77708804). Prompt: **the scariest sound in the world**

The ogres roar all night long, ever hungry, ever restless. That they are kept beyond the city walls makes little difference, as all know their defenses will eventually crumble away. But Belle doesn't let the sound scare her. There's hope. There will be hope as long as their soldiers are willing to fight, as long as...

Their last hope is a deal.

*

Rumpelstiltskin doesn't scare her, but neither does he make her feel comfortable. His voice seldom betrays him, and his words run in circles around her. He laughs, often, but his humor is slippery and it always takes her a second to catch the joke and smile along. It's his gestures that matter, Belle learns eventually, and she starts to listen for the things that really matter.

Somehow she misses the most important of all.

_(No one can ever, ever love me!)_

His roars do scare her, but the accusations cut her deeper still. She spends her hours in the dungeon reliving those last minutes, listening to his words over and over again. He wants her. He doesn't trust her. He _loves_ her. He refuses to have her love.

When Rumpelstiltskin returns, she has words of her own, curling in her chest.

When Rumpelstiltskin tosses her out, she flings these words at him.

If he can't trust her love, he will believe in her anger instead.

*

Outside, the world is noisier than she remembered. There are people talking, and animals running around, and yet another monster roaring at her.

Belle refuses to be scared. This one can't break her heart, after all.

Because the scariest sound of the world, Belle has learned, is not that of rage, but the hurt silence that follows afterward. 

*

She will break that silence, she decides later. 

As soon as she gets back home.

 

The End  
17/10/14


End file.
